Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson welcomed 15 young people on the road to career success as they were formally inducted to an M74 Modern Apprenticeship scheme.

The apprentices, who are mainly from the Glasgow and South Lanarkshire area, started working on the project last year as a result of the M74 Employability Partnership.

They will now have the opportunity to maximise the benefits of this work experience as they start out on the Interlink M74 JV led Modern Apprenticeship scheme that allows them to become 'time-served' within two years.

Speaking at the induction Mr Stevenson said: "The M74 Completion project is playing a vital role in providing employment for the construction industry in a period of economic difficulty, around 900 jobs at the project’s peak.

"Supporting and developing young people is a key part of this and I am delighted with the ways in which Interlink has proactively developed training opportunities for these young people and ensured their training will continue beyond the M74 Completion project.

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"Not only will these Modern Apprenticeships provide the candidates with a strong starting point for their careers, the valuable experience and transferable skills they will gain as a result will stand them in excellent stead for the future."

Transport Scotland's work alone supports over 25% of the civil engineering contracting sector's workload in Scotland.

"Access to skilled employees is key to the success of our major infrastructure projects and investing in our people through programmes such as the Modern Apprenticeships is essential, not only to meet current needs, but also to ensure ongoing sustainable economic growth for Scotland," Mr Stevenson added.

The scheme, which has been developed by contractor Interlink M74 JV in conjunction with Construction Skills, will offer real employment opportunities for all fifteen involved.

Glasgow City Council's Executive Member for Business and the Economy, Cllr George Ryan, said: "I am very proud of the role we played - along with Interlink, the Glasgow East Regeneration Agency and our local government partners - in establishing the M74 Employability Partnership.

"That project has given these young people the skills and opportunity to secure Modern Apprenticeships on the biggest engineering project in the country and support from Interlink in forging long and successful careers in a great industry."

The Apprenticeships will cover key construction roles such as formwork, steelfixing, plant operation and general construction. The young people will serve their time with one of the four joint venture partners and remain there to complete their apprenticeship after the new M74 is open in 2011.

(GK/BMcc)